Psychology Commons^™

Cognitive And Affective Control Deficits In Adults With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Melissa-Ann Mackie

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Cognitive control constrains mental operations to prioritize information that reaches conscious awareness and is essential to flexible, adaptive behavior under conditions of uncertainty. However, cognitive control can be compromised by neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD), which is characterized by the presence of social and communicative deficits, and restricted interests/repetitive behaviors. Although prior investigations have attempted to elucidate the nature of cognitive control deficits in ASD, whether there is an underlying deficit in cognitive and affective control associated with the symptom domains of ASD remains unclear. The present series of eight experiments presents an information theoretic framework for …

Examining The Concurrent And Predictive Relations Of Working Memory In Childhood Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, Ashley N. Simone

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Attention-deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by developmentally inappropriate levels of inattention and/or hyperactivity/impulsivity which lead to impairment in multiple settings (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Childhood ADHD has been concurrently associated with various neurocognitive deficits and one in particular that has been under examination over the past several years is working memory (WM). WM is a temporary storage system that is responsible for maintenance and/or manipulation of information in order to complete complex cognitive and behavioral tasks. Researchers have postulated that WM is one of several potential endophenotypes of ADHD (Castellanos & Tannock, 2002) and/or that WM is …

Cultural Nuances For Immigrant Adolescents And Adolescents Of The Third Culture Experience: A Book Review Of Immigrant Youth In Cultural Transition: Acculturation, Identity, And Adaptation Across National Contexts, Jennifer L. Wilson

Journal of Cross-Cultural Family Studies

Cross-cultural children include Third Culture Kids (TCKs) and the children and adolescents whose families have immigrated to a new society. The book Immigrant Youth in Cultural Transition: Acculturation, Identity, and Adaptation Across National Contexts (Berry et al., 2012), was a multi-national and multicultural study that sought to explain how immigrant youth navigate among cultures, how they manage their multicultural experience as it relates to psychological and sociocultural adjustment, and how demographics, family variables, and cultural variables affect the immigration, acculturation, assimilation, and adaptation process for these adolescents. Many similar processes have been described in the TCK literature for TCK children, …

Giving Students The Finger, David Moshman

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

Does academic freedom protect giving students the finger? On August 25, University of Nebraska-Lincoln sophomore Kaitlyn Mullen set up a table on campus outside the student union to promote Turning Point USA, a campus-based libertarian/conservative organization. TPUSA is known for its Professor Watchlist, which seeks to “expose and document college professors who discriminate against conservative students and advance leftist propaganda in the classroom.” Before long, there were people demonstrating against her. Ultimately, Mullen was harassed and intimidated by several individuals employed to teach at UNL, with the apparent intent of suppressing her intellectual freedom. One of them labeled her a …

Vii. Developmental Trajectories Of Children’S Emotional Reactivity After The Birth Of A Sibling, Patty X. Kuo, Brenda L. Volling, Richard Gonzalez, Wonjung Oh, Tianyi Yu

Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies: Faculty Publications

Emotional reactivity in this chapter refers to children’s moodiness, worrying, emotional instability, and their inability to emotionally cope with new situations (Achenbach & Rescorla, 2000) rather than a temperamental characteristic. Emotionally reactive children often have difficulties adapting to change and are described as moody and anxious. Because the birth of a sibling is considered a significant change within the family, emotionally reactive children may become increasingly emotionally labile after the birth. During the transition to siblinghood, Stewart (1990) reported that children experienced an increase in emotional intensity, a decrease in the range of mood expressions, and an increased tendency to …

The Contributions Of Child And Romantic Attachment To Sleep Quality, Karen Estefane

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Little is known about the relation between attachment and sleep, although both develop around the first year of life and mutually influence each other. Furthermore, attachment styles and dimensions have been associated with sleep difficulties in both childhood and adulthood. However, these findings have not been consistent, especially among dismissing individuals. In addition, the specific contributions of both child and romantic attachment to sleep quality have not been investigated thus far. This cross-sectional study aims to examine the ways child and romantic attachment are associated with sleep quality. A sample of 671 heterosexual residents of the United States, aged 18 …

A Playful Context Enhances Bilingual And Monolingual Preschoolers’ Mastery Motivation And Private Speech, Jeremy Sawyer

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Children’s private speech (audible self-talk) has been studied primarily as a cognitive tool for thinking, planning and self-regulation. This study investigated whether private speech may also function as a tool for motivation. Vygotskian and self-determination theory suggest that children can develop to become agentic and inspired, or conversely disengaged and alienated, based largely on their social conditions of development. Thus, it is important to investigate children’s motivational processes in social and educational contexts that are central to child development. U.S. preschool enrollment is expanding, accompanied by a decline in play-based pedagogy and growth of didactic, teacher-centered approaches. To illuminate the …

Narrating The Future: Understanding How Student Narratives Relate To Outcomes In Community College, Tanzina Ahmed

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Community colleges are an increasingly important entry point into higher education for adults in the United States (21^st-Century Commission, 2012). Students often hold diverse opinions on and engage in complex meaning-making around the community college institution (Daiute & Kreniske, 2016; Deil-Amen, 2016). Furthermore, students’ varied interpretations of community college might influence and predict their academic performance. To investigate that assumption, this study asked 104 students to write about community college within three genres (i.e. types) of narratives that afford different author-purpose-audience opportunities for meaning-making. In the Letters genre, students wrote a letter to a close partner about their …

The Long-Term Consequences Of Child Abuse And Neglect In Men, Robert A. Beattey Jr.

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Research indicates that the annual incidence of child maltreatment is around 10% and that more than one-quarter of children have, at least indirectly, experienced some form of violence. Prospective studies find that in high-income countries, like the United States, there are moderate correlations between childhood maltreatment and low educational achievement, low skilled employment, depression, suicide attempts, and alcohol problems, as well as strong correlations with obesity, behavior problems in childhood and adolescence, and criminal behavior. Despite the high costs of child abuse and neglect—both direct and indirect—and decades of research and public health, justice, and social service investment in prevention …

Harm And Victim Age As Factors In The Determination Of Intentionality And Culpability, Donal David Barnard Jr.

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In the United States criminal justice system, jurors are directed to determine a defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt by establishing both the act of committing a crime (actus reus) and the culpable mental state of the defendant (mens rea), that is, the defendant’s intentionality. The role of a juror in a criminal case is that of a factfinder, deciding whether the two elements of the crime have been met. Criminal cases where jurors are asked to decide the facts vary in the harm that resulted. The more severe the harm, the greater the perceived injustice. This …

Social Media Use And Media Literacy In Relation To Adolescents' Understanding Of The Internet, Kasey L. Powers

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Digital media has permeated American culture among users of all ages. By early adolescence, youth are using and consuming media at unprecedented rates. While the majority of content consumed remains largely television and movies, often streamed through new channels like Amazon and YouTube, video games and apps also comprise a portion of the media diet. As youth enter adolescence, their usage of social media, defined as any platform that allows interactive communication in response to online posting, becomes more prevalent.

In this study, I explore Internet and social media use and its impact on adolescents’ understanding of media in three …

A Parent Education Curriculum For Decreasing Stress In Families Raising A Child With An Autism Spectrum Disorder, Hannah L. Wohlk

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Research has consistently shown that parents raising a child with autism spectrum disorders, or ASDs, have higher levels of stress than parents of typically-developing children or children with other disabilities. These parents’ higher levels of stress are attributed to a number of different factors, including early atypical development, getting the diagnosis, lack of awareness of resources, lack of support from their communities, unmet resource and schooling needs for their ASD child, financial strain, strain on the couple relationship, managing maladaptive behaviors, regulatory problems of the ASD child may experience, communication problems between ASD child and parent, parents’ perception of their …

Parental Influence On Second Generation Chinese-American Youth’S Career Choice And Development, Yingli Huang

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

A large body of literature supports the claim that the role of parents in shaping Asian-American youth's career development is significant (Leong & Serafica, 1995; Leong & Hardin, 2002; Yuan, 2012; Sandhu, 2017; Qin, 2011). When considering the family impact on Asian-Americans’ vocational choices, researchers should examine the phenomena through culturally specific lens so that variables that are more cultural relevant are captured. This is a pilot study with the goal to provide a preliminary understanding of the ways in which first-generation Chinese immigrant parents influence the choice and development of a career to their second-generation young adult children. In …

His, Hers, Or Theirs? Coparenting After The Birth Of A Second Child, Patty X. Kuo, Brenda L. Volling, Richard Gonzalez

Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies: Faculty Publications

This study examined changes in coparenting after the birth of a second child. Mothers and fathers from 241 two-parent families reported on their spouse’s coparenting cooperation and conflict with their firstborn child before (prenatal) and four months after the birth of a second child. Parents completed questionnaires (prenatal) on gender role attitudes, marital satisfaction, and firstborn children’s temperamental characteristics. Parents also reported on the secondborn infant’s temperament at 1 month following the birth of the second child. Coparenting conflict increased across the transition, whereas cooperation decreased. Couples in which fathers reported greater marital satisfaction were more cooperative 4 months after …

Fitting The Fractional Polynomial Model To Non-Gaussian Longitudinal Data, Ji Hoon Ryoo, Jeffrey D. Long, Greg W. Welch, Arthur Reynolds, Susan M. Swearer

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

As in cross sectional studies, longitudinal studies involve non-Gaussian data such as binomial, Poisson, gamma, and inverse-Gaussian distributions, and multivariate exponential families. A number of statistical tools have thus been developed to deal with non-Gaussian longitudinal data, including analytic techniques to estimate parameters in both fixed and random effects models. However, as yet growth modeling with non-Gaussian data is somewhat limited when considering the transformed expectation of the response via a linear predictor as a functional form of explanatory variables. In this study, we introduce a fractional polynomial model (FPM) that can be applied to model non-linear growth with non-Gaussian …

Secondary Students’ Writing Achievement Goals: Assessing The Mediating Effects Of Mastery And Performance Goals On Writing Self-Efficacy, Affect, And Writing Achievement, Meryem Yilmaz Soylu, Mary G. Zeleny, Ruomeng Zhao, Roger H. Bruning, Michael S. Dempsey, Douglas F. Kauffman

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

The two studies reported here explored the factor structure of the newly constructed Writing Achievement Goal Scale (WAGS), and examined relationships among secondary students’ writing achievement goals, writing self-efficacy, affect for writing, and writing achievement. In the first study, 697 middle school students completed the WAGS. A confirmatory factor analysis revealed a good fit for this data with a three-factor model that corresponds with mastery, performance approach, and performance avoidance goals. The results of Study 1 were an indication for the researchers to move forward with Study 2, which included 563 high school students. The secondary students completed theWAGS, as …

Combating Stress With Yoga: A Theoretical Model Of Self-Regulation, Sierra K. Wait

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Exposure to environmental stressors may challenge children’s developing self-regulatory abilities and increase their risk of developing emotional and behavior problems. Interventions aimed at improving children’s self-regulatory skills, specifically emotion regulation and attentional control, may reduce children’s risk for adjustment problems. The present study proposed a novel theoretical model which describes how participation in yoga may increase children’s self-regulatory skills and increase children’s mindfulness, or the ability to focus attention on the present moment. Both self-regulation and mindfulness were expected to be associated with fewer anxiety problems. Components of the theoretical model were evaluated using a very small sample of at-risk, …

Depressive Symptoms In Mexican-Origin Adolescents: Interrelations Between School And Family Contexts, Prerna G. Arora, Lorey Wheeler

Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families, and Schools: Faculty Publications

This study, as guided by cultural-ecological frameworks, examined multiple contextual stressors, including subjective economic hardship, acculturation, discrimination, and negative perceptions of school safety, as simultaneously linked to adolescents’ depressive symptoms, as well as the role of gender, familism values, family cohesion, and school connectedness on these associations. Data come from the Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Study (Portes and Rumbaut 2012) that included second-generation 8th- and 9th-grade children of foreign-born parents from the Mexican-origin subsample (n = 755; 52% male; time 1 M age = 14.20 years). Adolescents were either born in (60%) or immigrated prior to age 5 to …

Interaction Style Of Mothers Of Young Children With Williams Syndrome And Relations With Child Expressive Vocabulary., Danielle R. Henderson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Children of a given age vary widely in their expressive vocabulary abilities. One factor that is related to child expressive vocabulary ability is the style in which the mother interacts with her child. Studies that have considered this relation for either typically-developing (TD) children or children with developmental or intellectual disability (DD/ID) (e.g., autism spectrum disorder, fragile X syndrome) have shown that children whose mothers have a more sensitive/responsive interaction style have significantly larger expressive vocabularies than do children whose parents have a less sensitive/responsive style (e.g., Baker et al., 2010; Belsky et al., 2007; Brady et al., 2014; NICHD …

The Transformative Power Of Deliberate Creativity: Reflections Of A Priest Creativity Practitioner, Felix-Kingsley Nnamdi Obialo

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

The idea of creativity continues to gain global currency as the tool for growth and development, especially in our contemporary world. There is an emerging universal paradigm shift that promotes creativity as something that could be structured and deliberate as against the erstwhile belief that it is restricted and by chance. Nevertheless, some individuals, groups, and climes are yet to fully embrace creativity in all its ramifications. Creativity practice is one of the means to foster and sustain creativity in persons and groups. Consequently, nurturing creativity continues to impact people and contexts. Through four case studies, this project presents a …

The Good Behavior Game: Effects On And Maintenance Of Behavior In Middle-School Classrooms Using Class Dojo, Komila Dadakhodjaeva

Dissertations

Classroom management is one of the key components for successful instruction and affects both instructors and learners. Although most frequent discipline strategies in schools involve punitive actions, research suggests that using positive statements to teach and reinforce desirable behaviors is more appropriate and effective. A form of a group-oriented contingency that focuses on desirable behaviors is a positive variation of the Good Behavior Game (GBG). The GBG has been used widely in its original form, focusing on undesirable behaviors, and more research is needed on its positive version. Another strategy that can be used within classrooms is Class Dojo, a …

Exploring The Relationship Between Physical Activity And Executive Function In Early Childhood Populations: An Investigation Of Maternal Encouragement Of Activity, Lauren P. Driggers-Jones

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Researchers have found positive associations between physical activity and executive function in adolescence and adulthood. However, research in early childhood has revealed only negative relationships. In the present study, I explored whether maternal encouragement of physical activity might moderate this relationship in very young children. Using video recordings from an archival dataset, eight maternal encouragement measures were derived from mother-child free play sessions. Although it was expected that maternal encouragement of child activity would broadly play a moderating role in the relationship between children’s physical activity and their executive function, only maternal questions seemed to moderate this relationship. One explanation …

General And Emotion-Specific Alterations To Cognitive Control In Women With A History Of Childhood Abuse, Kristen L. Mackiewicz Seghete, Roselinde H. Kaiser, Anne P. Deprince, Marie T. Banich

Psychology: Faculty Scholarship

Background

Although limited, the literature suggests alterations in activation of cognitive control regions in adults and adolescents with a history of childhood abuse. The current study examined whether such alterations are increased in the face of emotionally-distracting as compared to emotionally neutral information, and whether such alterations occur in brain regions that exert cognitive control in a more top-down sustained manner or a more bottom-up transient manner.

Methods

Participants were young adult women (ages 23–30): one group with a history of childhood physical or sexual abuse (N = 15) and one with no trauma exposure (N = 17), as assessed …

Design And Evaluation Of A Problem-Based Learning Environment For Teacher Training, Laura Hemker, Claudia Prescher, Susanne Narciss

Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-Based Learning

Problem-based learning can have a great impact on the acquisition of practical knowledge, which is a central learning aim in the field of teacher education. Therefore, we implemented a problem-based learning approach in four seminars on educational assessment. In this paper, we outline our didactic design and discuss the results of the first evaluations, which explored acceptance of the approach, learning results, and expected applicability of the acquired knowledge.

The results show benefits of the problem-based learning approach, but also room for improvement. Specifically, the use of problems from multiple contexts (theoretical foundations and direct practical application) and the flexible …

Providers Perspectives On Self-Regulation Impact Their Use Of Responsive Feeding Practices In Child Care, Dipti A. Dev, Katherine E. Speirs, Natalie A. Williams, Samantha Ramsay, Brent A. Mcbride, Holly Hatton-Bowers

Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies: Faculty Publications

Supporting children's self-regulation in eating through caregivers' practice of responsive feeding is paramount to obesity prevention, and while much attention has been given to supporting children's selfregulation in eating through parents' responsive feeding practices in the home setting, little attention has been given to this issue in childcare settings. This qualitative study examines childcare providers' perspectives on using responsive feeding practices with young children (2–5 years). Individual semistructured interviews were conducted with providers until saturation was reached. Data was analyzed using thematic analysis. The final sample included 18 providers who were employed full-time in Head Start or state-licensed center-based childcare …

Coming Together: How Science, Art, And Law Affect Change In The Treatment Of Lgbtq Persons, Lucas Liner

Honors Projects

The ongoing LGBTQ rights movement saw one of its biggest victories in the landmark decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, which recognized same-sex marriages in the United States. This decision was affected by not just scientific understanding of homosexual persons, but by artistic portrayal, demonstrations, and previous judicial decisions regarding homosexuality. The course of the American LGBTQ rights movement seems to run parallel to that of the German gay rights movement of the early 20th century, with a coming together of science, law, and art leading to change, both public and political. This paper highlights the work of Magnus Hirschfeld, a …

A Proposal And Examination Of A Novel Life History And Sociometer Model Of Self-Esteem, Jin Chuan Yong

Dissertations and Theses Collection

Self-esteem occupies an esteemed position in psychological research, but the self-esteem scholarship has often raised more questions than it has answered. Recent alternative approaches to self-esteem have made decent strides in resolving the mixed findings abound in the literature, such as a call for greater focus on self-esteem’s functionality and domain-specific components of self-esteem. However, the lack of a well-grounded, parsimonious theory of self-esteem has kept these proximate theories and findings disparate and our overall understanding of self-esteem incomplete. The current dissertation sought to address these issues by developing a model of self-esteem based on the evolutionarily driven sociometer and …

Impact Of Expressive Intensity And Stimulus Location On Emotion Detection, Brittany Nicole Groh

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Previous research demonstrates that the age of an observer, the peripheral location of a face stimulus on a display, and the intensity of the emotion expressed by the face all play a role in emotion perception. Older individuals have more difficulty identifying emotion in faces, especially at lower expressive intensities. The purpose of the current study was to understand how younger and older adults’ abilities to detect emotion in facial stimuli presented in the periphery would be affected by the intensity of the emotional expressions and the distance that the expressions are presented away from the center of the display. …

Longitudinal Predictors Of Parental Sensitivity: The Role Of Parent Personality And Infant Temperament Across Early Infancy, Lauren Grace Bailes

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Parents play a critical role in their infants’ social and emotional development (Zeifman, 2003). High parental sensitivity contributes to greater infant attachment security (De Wolff & van IJzendoorn, 1997), as well as better compliance later in life (van Berkel et al., 2015). Personality influences how parents respond to their infants, such that parents higher in neuroticism are more controlling and less stimulating (Clark, Kochanska, & Ready, 2000), and less responsive (Kochanska, Friesenborg, Lange, & Martel, 2004). However, previous studies have found mixed results with parent extraversion. Some studies found that high parental extraversion could lead to more parent responsiveness (Clark …

Growing Up With Porn: The Developmental And Societal Impact Of Pornography On Children, Gail Dines

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

No abstract provided.